REGION: Researchers say planning before tsunami paid off

The tsunami created by the 9.0-magnitude quake off the coast of
Japan last week caused strong currents, damaged docks and capsized
boats along California's coastline, researchers with the Tsunami
Research Center in Los Angeles said Friday.

Planning helped to minimize the damage, they said.

The center this week deployed several tsunami scholars from
Oregon to San Diego Harbor to collect data on the event. One of the
researchers who visited San Diego said a dock was broken and a boat
floated off, carried away by strong currents caused by the
tsunami.

However, the tsunami's effects were minimized by the fact that
it came during low tide, said Aggeliki Barberopoulou, a professor
of engineering at the University of Southern California who visited
San Diego on Tuesday.

The professor said the researchers will continue to collect
data, including during a visit to Oceanside next week.

During a news conference Friday, the researchers said the
information they collected will help people better understand
tsunamis and their effects on California's coast. Most people
expected to see one large wave and were disappointed when they did
not, Barberopoulou said.

"The first wave was expected to be the strongest, and after
seeing only minor surges, they thought, 'Nothing to worry about,'"
Barberopoulou said.

But even if there is no large wave, there could still be danger
in the water, she said. An amateur photographer taking pictures of
the tsunami was swept out to sea by strong currents in Northern
California.

The effects of the tsunami lasted up to 36 hours after the
initial wave hit California's coast, the researchers said. Waves up
to 8 feet and currents up to 10 knots, or 11.5 mph, were reported
in Crescent City and Catalina Island.

Jose Borrero, a researcher with the Tsunami Research Center,
said the fact that the tsunami arrived in California during low
tide minimized the damage. He said that along some parts of the
coast, the tsunami had the effect of the low-to-high-tide cycle
turning inside of 20 minutes.

"Low tide saved the day," Borrero said.

Preparation also helped.

Harbor masters along the coast received warnings about nine
hours before the tsunami arrived, Borrero said. This gave them time
to alert boat owners, who took many of the boats out to sea, where
they avoided damage.